Milk-strainer.



P. J. BOLEN.

MILK STRAINER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28. 1915.

- 1,168,1 51. Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH ca, WASHINGTON. D. c.

KINIIEDWATE PATENT m rAirinIcK'J; nonun on WICHITA, KANSAS.

To all wh qm it concern 7 Be it knownjthat- I, PArrn on ia citizen ofthe United States, residing at Wichita, in the county, of..Sedgwick andState of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements v inMillbStrainers; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full,clear, and exact;descri ption of the. invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use thesame.

This invention relates to filters, and more especially to strainers; andthe object of the same is to produce a compound strainer for use onfresh milk. The inventionv comprises a plurality of strainers containingcottonor eottoii .flannel,jand-v anflfelelment beneath the lowerstrainer 'als'ocontaining the same ma terial and overwhich the milk hasto flow in its passage out ofthe deiiice. Details are set forth inthefollowing specification. and shown in the 'drawingswherein Figure l is a,central.vertical section of this devlce complete, and Flg. 21s aperspective detail of one element removed.- I

Referring to the drawings,v the numeral, 1 designates a funnel havingan' ample cylindrical spout 2 closed across its bottom at 3 by thebottom of a cup 4 whose wall rises to the point 5 and is spaced from thespout to produce an annular outlet, 6 around the lower; endlofthejlatter; and withinsaid spout'are removably located the four strainerl elements. .JustabOVeits lgwer endthespout is provided with arrannularseries of slots 7- and intervening holes .S frSr-a purpose yet toappear. i Within said spout is disposed a seriesf-of elements whereof:four are shown inthe accompanying drawings.- The lower-v most is whatmight be called a catching ele-.. ment. It comprises a collar or ring:IO 1'est-. ing onthe bottom- 3 and having an inturned flange 11 aroundits upper end which stands below the slots 7, and across this flange isstretchedascreenl5 of rather coarse mesh. This, element contains cottonor cotton flan nel19" confined within the collar and between the'screen15 and the bottom 3. The

elements above the catchingelement may be called straining elements. Theone next above it comprises a metallic cylinder or collarw20 withinturned. flanges 21 and 22 around its upper and lower ends, and theformer is covered with a screen 25 of medium mesh. Above the lowerflange 22 is; an annular. series. of holes 23.,-.interspersed with thosein the spout.

' Speci ficat ien of Letters Iatent; Patented Jan. 11,1916;Applioationfileesegteiiiher 23, 1915.. Serial no. 53,107.

with notches. 27 so disposed that theywill register with theslots 7 whenthe holes 28 register with. the holes 8 in the spout, and this willoccur when the lower flange 22 rests on the upper flange 11 of thelowermostelement. Within the collar 20 and beneath the strainer 25 iscotton or cotton flannel 29. The third element is a cylinder or collar30 having inturned flanges 31 and 32 at its upper and lower ends and astrainer 35 of medium mesh across its upper end, beneath which is cottonor cotton flannel 3.9; and the lower flange 32 rests on the upper flange21 of the second element The fourth element is a collar or ring 40having an inturned flange 42 around its lower end which rests 31 on theupper flange 31 of the thirdselement,

which rests on a shoulder 9 formed Within the lower end of the tunnel 1and uniting it with the upper end of. the spout 2; and at the upper endof this element is a strainer 45 of quite fine mesh, which I. preferablymake conical as shown. This element may have an arched: handle 46 whichcan. be reached from above for lifting the element out of place, andbeneath the strainer is cotton or cotton flannel 49. g

I provide a suitable tool (not shown) for reaching down through thefunnel and en.- gagin'g the strainer of each element, when the upperelement is removed, so that the elements beneath it can be lifted.successively out; of place or the second. element can be adjusted byturning, it on itsaxis until its openings register more or lesscompletely All parts of this device are of metal, so treated that itwill not rust, and the cotton. or cotton flannel filtering material mustbe pure and clean and will be of a proper density tofilter the milkwithout unduly retard. ing. its passage through the devlce. In use, thelower or catching element is inserted at the bottom of the column asshown, when its screen 15 stands below the openings 7 and 8;, next thesecond element is inserted'and pushed downward until it rests on thefirst element, after which it is turned so that its openings 27 and 28register more or less accurately w th those of :5

I second time.

Fresh milk is now poured into the funnel, and if it is observed that itclogs the strainer, the uppermost element may be taken out of placetemporarily and the third element lifted. so as to loosen up the filling39. Thecylinders or collars 20 and will fit with some friction withinthe cylindrical spout, and as the weight of the parts is negligible theywill doubtless remainin their adjusted positions, The fine strainer 45takes out all extraneous matter that may fall into the milk, and thevarious layers of filling will strain out sediment, fibers, brokentissues, slime, and blood; and this'strainer is especiallyeflicacious ifthe milk be chilled and passed through it a After passing down throughthe three strainer elements and saturating the filling in the lowermost,the milk flows radially outward over said lowermost element whichtherefore serves more as a catcher than as a strainer. With the partsmade of ample size, the strainer will clean about forty gallons of milkwithout replacing the filling, but from time to time the variouselements must be removed, and the cotton filling replenished. Obviouslythe I upper element where the filling will not be packed at all densely,will take out the coarsest particles, the third element the nextcoarsest, and'the second element the finest; and at the bottom of thecolumn the strained milk saturates the filling in the lowermost element,and thereafter flows downonto it and over it (but not through it) in itspassage radially through the registering openings to the cup.' -Withinthe channel 6 in the latter the strainedv milk rises until it flows overits upper edge 5, and this device is all ready to'be set into a milk canor receptacle to catch the milk. In large dairies where there is muchmilk and the strainer is in constant use, it may be well to provide twosets of elements so that an operator can be cleaning one set andreplacing its filling while the other set is in use, and thesubstitution will take'but a moment. It will be observed that bottom 3of the cup serves as the bottom of the lowermost element, and thestrainer at the top of this element serves as the bottom of the oneabove; in other words, each element is open atthe bottom and closed atthe top excepting for the lower flange, and the upper flange andwire'gauze of each element constitutes the bottom of the-element abovewhen they are assembled in the column. The lower flanges will'be ofsufficient width to hold the loose filling in placev when the severalelements are in verted, but should not be wide enough to interrupt thefiltering Qrstraining process.

What I claim is: I

, 1. In a milk strainer, the combination with a funnel whosespout hasits lower end closed and its wall provided with an annular series ofopenings on a line above said lower end; of a series of independentfiltering ,elements removably disposed within said spout, the lowermosthaving a series of openings adapted to be thrown into register withthose in the spout, and a catching element resting on said bottom andsupporting said lowermost filtering element. 2. In a milk strainer, thecombination with a funnel whose spout has its lower end closed and itswall provided with an annularseries of openings on a line above saidlower end; of a series of independent filtering elements 'removablydisposed within said spout, the lowermost having a 5 series of openingsadapted to be thrown into register withthose in the spout, and acatching element'resting on said bottom and supporting said lowermostfiltering M 6 outlets combined with a catching element seated in i i thespout beneath said openings and resting on said bottom, and a series offiltering elements in the spout above said catching element andrespectively above each other, the

lowermost having openings adapted to register with those in the spoutand each element containing. a filling of filtering material. f y 4:. Ina milk strainer, the combination with a funnel, a cylindrical spouthaving radial openings near its lower end and an out-turned shoulder atits upper end unit ing it with the smaller end of the funnel,

and a cup whosebottom closes the lower end of the spout and whose wallrises around its openings; of catching'element in the spout beneath itsopenings and resting on the bottom of the'cup, a series of filteringelements in the spout above the catching element, flanges at the upperand lower ends of said elements adapted to contact with each other, andanuppermostfiltering element having an inturned flange at its lower end,an outturned flange at its upper end adapted to a handle; 7 p V Intestimonywhereof I afiix my signa ture.

Washington, D. G."

rest on said shoulder, and

PATRICK'J'. BOLENQ V 1.

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